Mortar joint painter



Jan. 16, 1968 s. R. BRIGHT, 1R

MORTAR JOINT PAINTER Filed Feb. l5, 1966 Patented Jan. 16, 1968 3,363,279 MORTAR JOINT PAIN'I'ER Sylvester R. Bright, Jr., 95 Dewey St., Stratford, Conn. 06497 Filed Feb. 15, 1966, Ser. No. 527,677 Claims. (Cl. 15-541) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLSURE An apparatus for painting the mortar joints of bricks or blocks. A squeeze bottle paint reservoir is provided with a delivery tube terminating at a painting head. The painting head includes an elongated applicator strip of sponge or sponge-like material.

This invention relates to a mortar joint painter and, more particularly, to such a painter which is simple and inexpensive and which permits rapid and neat painting of of the mortar joints between bricks or other masonry.

One of the most diicult tasks in the painting of masonry surfaces such as brick walls is the painting of the mortar joints. Such painting is required, for example, when paint is applied to the wall surface by means of a roller which does not extend into the joints or when a contrasting color is to be applied to the mortar. The painting of these joints by a hand -ibrush is time consuming and, therefore, expensive. Furthermore, it may tie up a skilled painter who could be more profitably employed elsewhere. Accordingly, it is the object of this invention to provide an improved mortar joint painter. Other objects are to provide such a painter which is easy to use, which includes a paint supply, and which is inexpensive to manufacture.

The manner in which the foregoing objects are achieved will be more apparent from the following description, the appended claims, and the -iigures of the attached drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a mortar joint painter constructed in accordance with this invention, portions thereof being broken away to illustrate its internal construction;

FIG. 2 is a cross section taken substantially along the line 2 2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an illustration showing the manner in which the painter of FIGS. l and 2 is employed;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a modified form of mortar joint painter, portions thereof being broken away to illustrate its internal construction;

FIG. 5 is a cross section taken substantially along the line 5 5 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is an illustration showing the manner of using the mortar joint painter of FIGS. 4 and 5.

The objects of this invention are achieved by a mortar joint painter which comprises a painting head including a substantially rigid planar elongated base member having at least one straight edge. A resilient, porous, elongated applicator is secured to the straight edge. Paint storage means are supplied and conduit means intercorb nects the storage means and the base member and is arranged to conduct paint from the storage means to the applicator.

With particular reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is illustrated a mortar joint painter which includes a painting head H and a plastic squeeze bottle 10 which may be formed, for example, of polyethylene. The squeeze bottle includes a neck 12 which is threaded to receive a screw cap 14 which includes a short spout 16 defining a central opening 18 which extends through the cap. A rubber or plastic dip tube 20 extends through the opening 18 in tight fitting frictional engagement therewith and has its lower end 20a positioned near the bottom of the squeeze bottle and its upper end 20b extending above the spout 16. The upper end 20h of the dip tube provides mechanical support for head H and communicates with a central opening 22 provided in the side of a rubber or plastic header 4tube 24 which extends generally perpendicular to the dip tube. The header tube 24 is slit along its opposite side so as to dene a paint discharge slot 26. The header tube 24 is secured to one planar face of a rigid rectangular base member 28 which may be formed, for example, of wood or plastic. The means of securing the header tube to the base member is not critical and may be, for example, by mechanical means such as staples, or by a suitable cement. The extreme ends of the header tube 24 are also sealed off in order that paint contained within the .header tube will discharge only through slot 26.

Mounted against the edge of base member 28 is an elongated strip of sponge forming an applicator 30. The applicator 30 is of substantially rectangular cross section and has a width approximating the narrowest mort-ar joint to be encountered-for example, one-quarter to three-eighths inch. The applicator may be secured to the base member by means of a suitable cement. A natural sponge has been found to be most suitable for use in forming the applicator but various types of synthetic sponge materials may also be employed.

Wrapped lengthwise around the base member 28 and covering the header tube 24 is an absorbent strip 32 which may conveniently be formed from synthetic sponge or other absorbent material. The outermost edge of the absorbent strip 32 is spaced from the applicator 30 as is shown in FIGS. l and 2.

VIn order to employ the mortar joint painter of FIGS. l and 2 the squeeze bottle 10 is lilled with a paint of a suitable color and squeezed by hand, forcing the paint upwardly through dip tube 20 on to base member 28. With head H held in downwardly angled position, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the paint will feed from the base member 28 on to the applicator 3i! and the applicator will t'hus become saturated with paint. The mortar joints in the brick wall W of FIG. 3 may then be painted by merely pressing the applicator 30 against the mortar joint at horizontally spaced locations, thus providing a paint coating to the horizontal joints in a neat and etiicient manner.

'The head H of the mortar joint painter of FIGS. 1-3 is relatively long to provide maximum eticiency in painting horizontal jonts. However, it is too long to function effectively in painting the ve-rtical mortar joints between ordinary bricks. For this purpose there is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 a modiiied mortar joint painter having a head H' for painting the shorter vertical joints. In this modiiication, the squeeze bottle and cap are similar to those of FIGS. 1 and 2 and are given the same reference numerals with a prime attached. The dip tube 34, which extends upwardly through the spout 16', is cemented or otherwise secured to the short edge of a base member 36. This base member, though shorter, is otherwise similar to base member 28. However, in this arrangement no header is required and the sponge strip applicator 38 is cemented to the edge of the base member 36 and extends directly across the open end of dip tube 34. There is also provided an absorbent strip 40 which functions in the same manner as absorbent strip 32 to prevent dripping of excess paint. In the modified applicator of FIGS. 4 and 5 paint is expressed directly into the applicator 38 by squeezing bottle 10. The length of the applicator 38 is approximately two and one-half inches so that it lits easily into the vertical joints of a brick wall as shown in FIG. 6.

It is believed that the many advantages of this invention will now be apparent to those skilled in the art. It will also be understood that various changes and modifications may be made in this invention without departing from its spirit and scope. Accordingly, the foregoing description is to be construed as illustrative only, rather than limiting. This invention is limited only by the scope of the following claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A mortar joint painter which comprises: a painting head including a substantially rigid, planar, elongated base member having at least one straight edge and a resilient, porous, elongated applicator secured to said straight edge; paint storage means; and conduit means mechanically supporting said base member relative to said storage means and arranged to conduct paint from said storage means to said applicator.

2. A mortar joint painter which comprises: a painting head including a substantially rigid, planar, elongated base member having at least one straight edge, a resilient, porous, elongated applicator secured to said straight edge, and means for absorbing excess paint secu-red to its plan-ar surfaces and spaced from said applicator; a squeeze bottle; and conduit means interconnecting said squeeze bottle and said base member and arranged to conduct paint from said squeeze bott-le to said applicator.

3. The painter of claim 2 wherein said conduit means includes a paint supply header extending longitudinally of said base member and spaced from said applicator.

4. The painter of claim 3 wherein said conduit means includes a dip tube extending from the interior of said squeeze bottle to substantially the mid-point of said header.

5. The painter of claim 2, wherein said conduit means comprises a dip tube extending from the interior of said squeeze bottle to one end of said applicator.

References Cited UNTED STATES PATENTS 358,327 2/1887 IBertram 15-561 617,355 1/1899 Reed 15-542 2,497,671.1 2/ 1950 Kolchinsky 15-541 2,521,967 9/1950 Dean 15-569 3,020,579 2/1962 OConnor 15-511 X FOREIGN PATENTS 728,477 4/ 1955 Great Britain.

CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner.

EDWARD L. ROBERTS, Examiner. 

